The apostles
in Jerusalem, finding it difficult to combine the distribution of food to the
poor with preaching the word and prayer, appointed seven ministers to serve
those in who were in need (cf Acts 6:1-7), charity being considered as
central to the ministry of the Church. The apostles handed over this duty to
‘men of good reputation, filled with the Spirit and with wisdom’ by praying and
laying hands on them. Among these was Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
Saint Paul, writing
about 57 AD, includes deacons in his greeting in Philippians (1:1) and
writing to Timothy lists the qualities and virtues which all deacons are
expected to possess and exercise in their ministry (I Tim 3:8-13),
indicating that the diaconate had already become a separate office in the
Church. The very term “Diakonia” describes the central characteristic of
this order: the deacon is called to service. The witness of the early
Fathers of the Church acknowledges the importance of the diaconal ministry.
Saint Ignatius of Antioch, about 100 AD, says that it would be impossible to
have the Church without bishops, priests and deacons. He explains that their
task was nothing less than to continue ‘the ministry of Jesus Christ’.

After the fifth century,
however, there was a decline in the permanent diaconate in the Latin Church.
From the early Middle Ages the diaconate remained only as a transitional order
that men received as part of their preparation for the priesthood. There were
occasional exceptions to this rule however, Saint Francis of Assisi, for
example, was ordained a deacon but not a priest. But the reality was that the
permanent character of this order was abandoned by the Latin Church for many
centuries.

During the Second World War,
priests who were imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps started to appreciate
the benefits that permanent deacons would bring to the Church and the idea was
discussed in Catholic periodicals and books. In 1957, Pope Pius XII spoke
favorably about restoring the permanent diaconate, but concluded that ‘the time
is not yet ripe’.

The Second Vatican Council
decided that the time was ripe. The permanent character of the order was
restored and renewed when the Council in October 1963 called for the
reestablishment of the ministry of the permanent deacon. In June 1967, Pope Paul
VI carried out the desire of the Council when he published the Apostolic Letter
Sacrum diaconatus ordinem in which he reestablished the permanent
diaconate in the Latin Church. The Council, in its Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church, echoes the ancient image and concerns of the New Testament when
it speaks of the ministry and nature of the diaconate:

At a lower level of the
hierarchy are deacons, upon whom hands are imposed "not unto the priesthood, but
unto a ministry of service”. For strengthened by sacramental grace, in communion
with the bishop and his group of priests they serve in the diaconate of the
liturgy, of the word, and of charity to the people of God. It is the duty of the
deacon, according as it shall have been assigned to him by competent authority,
to administer baptism solemnly, to be custodian and dispenser of the Eucharist,
to assist at and bless marriages in the name of the Church, to bring Viaticum to
the dying, to read the Sacred Scripture to the faithful, to instruct and exhort
the people, to preside over the worship and prayer of the faithful, to
administer sacramentals, to officiate at funeral and burial services. Dedicated
to duties of charity and of administration, let deacons be mindful of the
admonition of Blessed Polycarp: "Be merciful, diligent, walking according to the
truth of the Lord, who became the servant of all." (Lumen Gentium para. 29)

The Permanent
Diaconate in Southwark

In the final years of Archbishop Cyril Cowderoy, the first Southwark permanent
deacon, Edward Driscoll, was ordained by Bishop Charles Henderson in July 1975.
When Archbishop Michael Bowen succeeded to the diocese in 1977 he gave the
permanent diaconate his wholehearted support and lost no time in establishing a
course of studies for permanent deacons (1978) and four new permanent deacons
were ordained in 1980. Since then the steady flow of ordinations has brought the
number of our permanent deacons to over eighty. The three-year Diaconal
Formation Programme at Saint John’s Seminary, Wonersh has recently been
established as a Foundation Degree Course in conjunction with Saint Mary’s
University College, Twickenham. There is also now an established Ongoing
Formation programme for deacons in the diocese as well as a programme for
aspirants to the diaconate in their propaedeutic year.

This rapid growth has been
reflected throughout England and Wales. The permanent
diaconate has also been restored in every diocese in
Scotland and is being established now in Ireland.

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Fra Angelico (Blessed Fra Giovanni Angelico
of Fiesole)c
1400 – 1455 was commissioned by Pope Nicholas V to paint the frescoes in the
Cappella Niccolina in the Vatican between 1447 and 1449. The frescoes depict
scenes from the lives of two deacons, St Stephen and St Lawrence. The chapel is
now part of the Vatican Museum. Fra Angelico was beatified by Pope John Paul II
in 1984.

The Cappella Niccolina

Saint Stephen – Acts of the
Apostles (Chapters 6 and 7)

The Ordination of St
Stephen by St Peter

Saint Lawrence – born at Huesca in Spain and ordained deacon by Pope Saint Sixtus II, he was entrusted
with the distribution of alms to those in need. Under the persecution of
Valerian, Pope Sixtus II and most of his deacons were beheaded and Lawrence
was given three days to collect the church treasure and hand it over to the
secular authorities. Instead he distributed it to the poor and brought them
forward as the true treasure of the Church. He was reputedly martyred by being
roasted on a gridiron on 10th August 258, and this day is celebrated
as a feast rather than a memoria.